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Uruguay – Mantra Casino to open in summer season only

By - 31 January 2014

The Head of the Uruguayan Gaming Board Javier Chá has announced that the casino at the Mantra Resort Spa and Casino located in Punta Del Este will close on February 28 and will not reopen until December 1.

From that point on the casino will only open in the summer season rather than the whole year round. Reassuring local press that no jobs were at risk Mr Chá said that the casino is only profitable during the summer season as the casino is located 30 kilometres from the centre of the spa and has no slot machines.

Talking to local newspaper El País Mr Chá said: “We are currently in discussions with the company (Vidaplan SA) to adapt the operation of the casino, where the commercial reality tells us that it is feasible only in the summer season. In the rest of the year the casino has no chance of operating with a profit.”

The head of the gaming board also said that the casino had reported losses of USS$500,000 last year and that its main clientele were affluent tourists. In response to the news union members for the workers at the Nuevo Nogaró, which is also a joint enterprise between Vidaplan SA and the state, announced that they would go on strike once the casino in La Mantra closes its doors.

This is despite Mr Chá’s assurances that no jobs would be lost. According to the head of the gaming board employment for those who were out of work in the summer months would be found at the nearby Casino Nuevo Nogaró.

Both casinos operate under the mixed system. Under the mixed system private investors can set up a casino in a hotel but it is the state that manages and runs the casino for which it receives in return between 35 per cent and 45 per cent a percentage of casino profits. The mixed system has since 1995 become increasingly popular in Uruguay especially as the wholly state run casinos have been hit by a number of corruption scandals over the last five years leading in some cases to jail terms.

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